Jan. 9
PHILIPINES:
Arroyo still opposed to death penalty - Palace exec
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is not keen on accommodating suggestions
to revive the death penalty in the wake of the "Alabang Boys" drug
scandal, a Malacaang official said Friday.
In her report, radio dzBB's Aileen Intia quoted Presidential Management
Staff head Cerge Remonde as saying that President Arroyo has not changed
her position on the issue of death penalty.
Mrs Arroyo signed a measure abolishing the death penalty in 2006, shortly
before going to the Vatican to call on Pope Benedict XVI.
Calls for the restoration of the death penalty mounted in the wake of
alleged bribery and use of connections to secure the release of 3 scions
of rich families linked to a drug case.
Remonde said that instead of reviving the death penalty, President Arroyo
is more likely to come out with a "comprehensive plan" against drugs.
He also said the President is likely to come out with a policy statement
to strengthen the government's efforts against the illegal drug trade.
Earlier in the day, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz stressed that
restoring the death penalty law will never deter crimes.
"Yan talaga ang [tugon ng] buong simbahan (It has been the stand of the
Church), death penalty is not the answer as a deterrent for crime. It has
never been a deterrent and it will never be," Cruz said in an interview on
dzXL radio.
On Thursday, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
opposed proposals to revive the death penalty to counter the drug problem.
The CBCP Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care (ECPPC) said taking
away life cannot and "will never stop" the commission of crimes.
"The problem is that they always think the death penalty is the deterrent
but it's not. Because if it really is, then crimes like terrorism, rape,
corruption and other hard crimes (will never be committed)," ECPPC
executive secretary Rodolfo Diamante said in an article on the CBCP
website.
(source: GMA News)
****************
Death penalty won't solve drug menace--bishop
A dysfunctional judicial system and a weak police force are among the
reasons for the growing drug menace in the country, a bishop said Friday
as he reiterated the Catholic Church's strong opposition to death penalty.
"The problem in our country is a dysfunctional judicial system and also a
very weak police force application. The drug traffickers escape because
our judicial system is not working and our police agencies are not
equipped to deal with crimes like these," Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop
Oscar Cruz told ABS-CBN's morning show, "Umagang Kay Ganda."
Cruz was reacting to Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri's proposal to reinstate death
penalty against convicted drug traffickers and multiple murderers.
Zubiri came up with the proposal amid the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency's (PDEA) verbal encounter against rich families of the so-called
"Alabang Boys."
The senator said death penalty has been proven as an effective drugs and
crime deterrent. He said drug syndicates' activities in Malaysia and Saudi
Arabia are slowly being confined by the authorities because of the
fearsome death penalty.
"In Malaysia, death by hanging and in Saudi Arabia, death by guillotine...
Ask overseas Filipino workers. However bad they are in the Philippines,
they become good in Saudi and Malaysia because they know that if you steal
something, your hands will be cut and if you commit rape, you will be
beheaded," he said.
He added: "They abide by the law because they are afraid of being severely
punished."
Cruz, however, said that if death penalty is really effective, it should
have been made a universal law and zero heinous crimes should be recorded
in all countries that are implementing the punishment.
The PDEA and the Dangerous Drugs Board on Thursday asked lawmakers to
reinstate death penalty as they revealed latest data that indicate the
Philippines has become the No. 1 drug country in Southeast Asia.
PDEA agent, Marines Major Ferdinand Marcelino, who led a team that
arrested the Alabang Boys, had said that some officials of the Department
of Justice (DOJ) could have taken millions of bribe money from one of the
suspects' rich relatives.
The DOJ has issued a resolution ordering the release of the Alabang Boys
-- Richard Brodette, Joseph Tecson, and Jorge Jordana Joseph -- and the
dismissal of the drug complaint filed against them by the PDEA.
The PDEA, however, contested the resolution citing a DOJ memorandum
circular that says cases involving heinous crimes should go through an
automatic review by the DOJ secretary before its implementation.
DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzalez had promised during an inquiry in the House of
Representatives last Wednesday to finish the review in 10 days.
(source: ABS-CBNNews)
